If you spent anytime online last week, you almost certainly stumbled across the Audemars Piguet x Swatch Royal Pop turning a hyped watch release into a full-fledged riot – pepper spray and all. It was easily the most chaotic watch drop in recent memory, and somehow it made AP a household name overnight.
Now, barely a week later, AP is back with another collab. But this one couldn’t be more different in spirit.
Streetwear Meets the Lab
This time the partner is Yoon Ahn and Verbal, the husband-and-wife duo behind Tokyo label Ambush, the folks responsible for Nike collabs that vanish in seconds. It’s their first crack at fine watchmaking, and AP handed them the right canvas for it.
The Royal Oak Concept has been the brand’s experimental playground since 2002, the weirder, more avant-garde cousin to the famous Royal Oak. Previous Concepts have gone full Spider-Man and full rainbow gem-set, so a streetwear duo fits the lineage perfectly.
Seeing Red
The flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock sits in an aluminum cage topped with an anodized red plate, which is the first time AP has ever pulled this off. Anodizing a component this small and this critical is quite an engineering feat.
And it’s the only splash of color on an otherwise monochrome watch. Verbal says the red nods to the Earth’s core, “the origin point, the source of energy.” And it works brilliantly against the shimmering black aventurine dial.
That dial is semi-openworked, so you can peek at the skeletonized barrel and gear train doing their thing.
Compact and Quietly Wild
The 38.5mm titanium case feels really wearable, which is also a far cry from the slab-like Concepts of old. AP mixes sandblasted, satin, and polished finishes to keep the surfaces shifting in the light.
Inside is the new hand-wound Calibre 2982, built specifically for this watch off the older 2964. You get 72 hours of reserve, a 3Hz beat, and a tool-free strap swap between the black and red micro-mosaic rubber straps.
Spec Sheet
Model: Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon x Yoon & Verbal
Case Size: 38.5mm
Case Thickness: 11.4mm
Case Material: Titanium (sandblasted, satin, polished)
Dial: Black aventurine, semi-openworked
Movement: Calibre 2982 hand-wound flying tourbillon
Power Reserve: 72 hours
Frequency: 3Hz (21,600 vph)
Water Resistance: 20m
Straps: Black & red micro-mosaic rubber (interchangeable)
Limited Edition: Yes, 150 pieces
Pricing & Availability
The Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon x Yoon & Verbal is limited to just 150 pieces and priced at CHF 176,800 (roughly $225,000). Good luck, because unlike the Royal Pop, you won’t even get the satisfaction of standing in line.
Recap
Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Concept Flying Tourbillon x Yoon & Verbal
AP follows its viral Swatch collab with something far more rarefied: an Ambush-designed Concept Flying Tourbillon whose red anodized cage is a first for the brand, wrapped in a black aventurine dial and a wearable 38.5mm titanium case, limited to 150 pieces.
